Google today confirmed that it is adding support for 110 new languages to Google Translate. This is a big milestone for the company because Google Translate currently supports 133 languages. So, the addition is biggest so fart.
Newly added languages include Cantonese, one of the most requested languages for Google Translate. About a quarter of the new languages are from Africa. The company also added Afar, a tonal language spoken in Djibouti, Eritrea, and Ethiopia, along with Punjabi (Shahmukhi), the most spoken language in Pakistan. Google confirms that these languages represent over 614 million speakers globally.
Google is using AI to add support for new languages. The company has used the PaLM 2 large language model for adding these 110 new languages to Google Translate. Google is also planning to add elements like regional varieties, dialects, and different spelling standards for languages.
Back in 2022, Google announced an initiative to support 1,000 languages through AI. Now Google Translate supports 243 languages and more will be added soon.
